Perdue, Cagle, Richardson Face The Press Together After Chaotic Close Of Session

By Dick Pettys
InsiderAdvantage Georgia

(4/10/08) Like a patient father gathering two warring siblings to his side, Gov. Sonny Perdue brought Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson together with him Wednesday for a news conference to face reporters’ questions about the just-ended session and to put a better face on the lawmaking period.

Richardson conceded he might have been a bit hasty in challenging Cagle to “stand up and be a man,” but for that concession still got a mild dressing-down from the governor, who said top leaders ought to conduct themselves with more dignity.

For all that, they all said the right things but the body language - Richardson’s efforts to bite his tongue, Cagle’s distance - made it clear the wounds remain.

The occasion served two purposes, the first being to try to counteract a lot of the bad press that’s been generated in the aftermath of the session, particularly as Perdue and his party head into the state midterm elections.

The second was for him to hail as major achievements of the session - and to sign the bills - relaxing the certificate of need laws, allowing a specialty cancer hospital to be built in Georgia and giving school systems new flexibility in exchange for new levels of accountability.

“Despite a few of the highly-publicized issues, I think the citizens of Georgia saw much progress on the 2008 session on issues that matter to them,” Perdue said.

Richardson was asked if he stood by his statement that Georgians should be looking for a new lieutenant governor.

“Anybody’s who ever played sports understands that when the game’s going on that tensions run high. And I’ll stand by the fact that the legislative process is a very difficult and trying time and we all say things in the middle of a game that we probably wouldn’t have said if we had been on the sideline not playing the game. I’ll just leave it at that. Tensions were high, I was trying to make something happen. It didn’t work. And I’ll stand by the fact that we have a disagreement, both of us doing what we should do, and that’s how this process is supposed to work,” Richardson said.

Cagle seemed somewhat cool to that response when asked how Republicans should convince voters they’re now working together.

“What I can say is, obviously the governor, myself, along with the Speaker are not going to agree on everything. But there’s a right way to go about it and a wrong way to go about it. The styles are very different. And what you’re going to continue to see from me is what you’ve seen - and that is steady, principled leadership that’s going to be focused on doing what’s best for Georgia citizens,” Cagle said.

And now Perdue: “Well I think again, communication, trust and obviously consensus has to be part of that. And frankly I don’t believe name calling in any fashion, whether on the field or in the Legislature, has a place in that. It has a certain disrespectful tone and I think it’s best done, even in the heat of the moment, with carrying yourself with dignity while you put forth that argument.”

Click here for the sound clip. (Large file.)

It was a lengthy news conference, but here are some more key points:

* Richardson said he will keep trying to pass some form of tax relief for Georgia citizens. “Am I going to talk about property taxes? Yes, until the day I die I’m going to pledge to keep on keeping on to try to give relief from property taxes. I think it’s the worst tax that it is. And I think we ought to look to change that.”

(The question had been directed to Richardson, but Perdue chimed in, agreeing with Richardson that local spending has increased at a far greater clip than state spending, but saying the state shouldn’t have to bankroll local tax cuts, as it currently does with the enhanced homestead exemption.

Perdue went on:"If we want to cut property taxes, let's cut property taxes. But let's don't ask the state property taxpayers to backfill those property tax cuts the way we've done in homeowner tax relief grants, which is nothing more than a circumvention where the state taxpayers are supporting that and ... (there are) no restraints on local property tax growth. I'm willing to have a great engagement of this discussion, but what we devolved into at the end was putting together an idea from Rep. Mark Burkhalter that he's advocated for a few years and the idea that I have over the quarter-mill - the $93 million tax cut - and patching those together in order to get something we could pass and call a tax cut, and then backfill that with state revenue which I don't think the state is prepared to do that.")

* Perdue said he has “concerns” about the parking lot guns bill with its enhanced provisions for concealed carry, and has heard from the hospitality and restaurant industry about its potential impact on them.

* Perdue said his administration and its educational task force will be prepared to roll out a revised education funding formula for the 2009 session.